DIARY OF A MADMAN Grant Causwell tried to have it both ...
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Grant Causwell tried to have it both ways in his cover story on petrocollapse: he supplied a fair assessment of the problem of oil depletion and its ramifications, and yet he mocked and attacked experts he learned from. New York Press readers can do their own thinking without ad hominem characterizations, and hopefully could see through Mr. Causwell's attempt at tabloid-style spice ["The Coming Petro Collapse," Oct. 26].
Among the speakers at the Petrocollapse conference were such scientists as David Pimentel of Cornell University and John Darnell of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett's office. Speakers on ecovillages and urban gardening were also valuable contributors to the successful conference. But a balanced report would have spoiled Mr. Causwell's sloppy slant. Petrocollapse is a serious topic that should not be twisted as if it's some "cult." Imaginative journalism is not a way to proceed.
There is a lot to learn, to put it mildly, to begin emancipating ourselves from unsustainable petroleum dependence. So attacking the only oil expert who has also had a career in fighting oil industry expansion (myself) is uncalled for and was a disservice to the public.
Either there is a biological case for die-off or there is not; if the latter is true, we can multiply our petroleum-addicted population infinitely. Either a shortage is going to hit hard, based on an analysis I provided from my association with the oil industry (Lundberg Survey predicted the Second Oil Shock), or such an effort to inform the public is nothing but a "charlatan's paranoia."
Jan Lundberg,
Publisher and Editor, Culturechange.org
Arcata, CA
AN OASIS OF SANITY
I attended the Petrocollapse Conference and agree almost completely with Grant Causwell. However, I may be one of the few-as he points out, most of the attendees are followers of [professional apocalypse predictor] Michael Ruppert.
I would hope that Mr. Causwell could write future stories on Peak Oil and what New York City and its citizens can do to prepare for much higher energy costs. Peak Oil is a fact. The only dispute is when it will occur, as it is difficult to determine exactly how much oil exists. If we don't start addressing the issue of Peak Oil now, we will not be prepared when it happens.
Steven Brunnert, via email
A COUNTER-CONSPIRACY?
Peak oil is a myth probably installed and serviced by those in a position to benefit financially by such Scheissdreck. Please read Thomas Gold's The Deep, Hot Biosphere (I know, sounds like something Dr. Dot would recommend) on the "abiogenic" origin of petroleum (and the origin of life on earth, by the way!). Deep, Hot is not too long or thick (hey, I can't joke with just anybody this way) a book, and it'll tickle that most significant of G-spots: the brain. We have a lot more to worry about with fresh water as a resource than petroleum and its refined by-products. It's the politics and money games that may fuck up the flow of oil. Lastly, for what it's worth, Alexander Cockburn at Counterpunch likes the book and the theory therein, as evidenced by his column a weekend or two ago.
Al Levine, via email
COMMIES AREN'T ODDBALLS?
Thank you for your cover story on Petrocollapse and the first Peak Oil conference in New York City.ÊAs the author acknowledges, Peak Oil "isn't just a scary story...even the lightest effects of demand suddenly exceeding supply would include ruinous inflation, the sort that could wipe out pensions and leave millions unable to pay their mortgages and gas prices that would leave millions unable to make their daily commute."
So his efforts to discredit some of the bearers of this message, whom he likens to "UFO cultists" and other oddballs-among whom he includes Communists-are trumped by his understanding of the message: "The curious and interesting thing about the movement is that its articles of faith are valid and undisputed."
Jenna Orkin, Petrocollapse Conference Moderator, World Trade Center Environmental Organization wtceo.org
UNFAULTED ANALYSIS
Had Grant Causwell read the summary of my team's study, "Winning the Oil Endgame," that was distributed at the NYU conference he mentions, he'd know that the solutions presented there, in both technology and policy, were not vague but very detailed and specific. For example, the uncompromised, ultra-safe, midsize SUV described there would get 66 mpg instead of 18.5 (he calls this 3.5x efficiency gain "slightly less gluttonous") and repay its $2,500 extra price in two years. Naturally, I couldn't present every detail of a 329-page book in seven minutes, but the executive summary, other articles, the whole book and all its technical backup are free at www.oilendgame.com. More than 150,000 copies have been downloaded over the past 13 months, and so far, nobody has faulted the analysis.
Fortunately, the oil problem is easier to solve than Mr. Causwell supposes, partly because the world uses oil at a 23x lower rate than he states. Indeed, the solution can be led by business for profit, without requiring new fuel taxes, subsidies, mandates, or federal laws. I'm sorry if anyone finds the existence of practical and profitable solutions offensive, but that's where sober analysis leads.
Amory B. Lovins, CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute
Old Snowmass, Colorado
rmi.org
GRANT CAUSWELL REPLIES
What can one say to someone like Jan Lundberg, who's capable of using a word like "die-off"? The man is a crackpot. I am entertained by his appeals to authority, something I mocked in my piece and still find uproarious-why is the presence of "scientists" at the Petrocollapse conference supposed to reflect well on him, exactly? Maybe one of his tinfoil-hat-wearing acolytes can explain.
As to Jenna Orkin, I invite readers to visit her website for true wackery. Among all my correspondence on this piece, though, the most rewarding was the note I received from one Jamey Hecht, which led me to his website, JameyHecht.com, whereI found a "Hip-Hop Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy": "At the age of 32 he knew it was his job/To jail the Mob/: put two of them away for every citizen they did rob."
By no means would I wish to lump Amory Lovins in with the likes of Lundberg, but I did find the solutions proposed at the NYU conference more than a little vague. Anyone who claims that the invisible hand of the market can be relied upon to protect us from resource shortages is engaged in magical thinking, wanting something for nothing.
Grant Causwell, Long Island City
IMPERIALIST PIGS
New York Presspresented an overtly pro-Zionist editorial next to a letter about hedonism and polygamy in Ramallah and tried to pass it off as balance ["With Us Or Against Us" and "So Much for Production Lines," Counterfeit Detection, Oct. 19]. They said nothing of Palestinians who are resisting the confiscation of their land through non-violent means. They said nothing of the infrastructure Palestinians have created for themselves through the most difficult of circumstances. They also didn't mention the hundreds of Israelis who support Palestinian resistance to occupation.
IfNew York Press had attended ISM's event at the Catholic Center, which featured both an Israeli and a Palestinian activist, they would have seen what I saw: a group of people committed to human rights for all regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Rachel Roberts, Manhattan
ALCOHOLISM, HILLBILLY-STYLE
It was only after seeing the photo attached to Brad Lockwood's dispatch on talking with the hicks about Bubba's bitch that I realized that even if I moved to Germany, I would never be considered normal ["Their Interior Amiss," Oct. 19].
It was upon realizing this-and only then-that I recalled what happened Saturday night.
Went to X University (Ivy League and snooty) and watched Tennessee throw the game-the Southern equivalent to Harvard-Yale-away to Alabama. Nobody at X University was much interested, as they are from neither Tennessee nor Alabama and have no clue how much of the Southern universe revolves around this game.
A guy and a girl started talking about threesomes and asked me if I was dating. I sat down and got shit-faced and finally said something like, I'm looking for the right woman to get married. A lie. I just don't do threesomes. Talked to an old man, an oasis of familiarity in an otherwise strange land, about the game. He felt my pain. God damn it, Tennessee, it's your fault I got shit-faced. Yet, had you won, I would've gotten shit-faced in celebration.
Couldn't bear the grief any longer, took my ass up the street to another restaurant. Got shit-faced with some Mexicans. Learned some more Spanish. Beat it out of there when I met up with some girl's man. I finally just came out and asked the guy, Are you married to that girl? "No, but we have a child together." So fuck it. More disappointment, more getting shit-faced.
Up the street a little further, dancing like the devil at another club. Went next door to a gas station to get some cigarettes. Everybody in there was drunk; it was closing down. Invited to another club by complete strangers. Forgot to get the cigarettes and went along.
Five-dollar cover charge, dancing like a male stripper and security all over me. Finally, because I wouldn't quit dancing sexy, here comes the fuzz. I was getting applause and almost had them tossing dollar bills. Yet, here in the Bible belt, Ward and June Cleaver were out there somewhere disturbed by my erotic John Travolta?esque moves. They called the cops. Fuck you, Ward and June Cleaver. Go back to 1950. Instead, they went home and fucked thinking about me, got up the next morning and went to church. I'm a hypocrite too, just in different ways.
I couldn't resist it. The cop was green, like he just got out of the Army or something, maybe National Guard. Saw a girl I've known all my life out of the blue. So I said, "Watch this."
Walked right up to the fuzz and freak-danced in front of them. People hit the floor laughing. People were giving me high-fives on the way out. Got my ass tossed out of the club and almost taken to jail. Called mommy, she came and picked me up and I passed out on the way home.
No wonder I'm an alcoholic. You would be too if you had to live in this wreck of a place. You take any sensible human being, drop them off here for about a month and the next thing you know he's a gun-toting, foul-mouthed alcoholic. Give him a month more and he'll be an expert auto mechanic, especially if he owns a BMW. Incidentally, the God damn fan bolt is reverse-thread. Fuck you, BMW.
James Wes Brown, via email
RETURN OF THE COUNCILMANIACS
"King Of The Councilmaniacs" (Azi Paybarah - October 26-November 1) correctly identified that the only real election in town, is the race for NYC Council Speaker. Tradition has the selection of a new Speaker as a high stakes poker game between the five Democratic County leaders representing Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island organizations. They attempt to parlay the votes of NYC Council members from their respective organizations to come up with the 26 votes (out of 51) needed to select the winner. Tradition has the winning county controlling the Speakers position with the other county organization in the winning coalition sharing some of the key City Council Committee Chairmanships such as Land Use, Finance and others. There are enough NYC Council committee chairmanships available to keep not only the 26 winners happy, but most of the other 25 losing NYC Councilmembers as well. Behind the scenes, campaign contributions are playing a role in the contest to replace outgoing Council Speaker Miller. Some candidates are making financial donations out of their own reelection campaign funds to other Council members running for reelection or first time candidates for vacant seats. Others are making donations to the home political clubhouse of the five NYC Democratic County Chairpersons. NYC Council Finance Chairperson David Weprin has already contributed over $51,000 to various fellow City Council candidates and local Democratic political clubhouses. Some might call this a political quid pro quo or an obvious attempt to influence or even worse - buy votes. Much of his money has come from the usual City Hall Pay for Play crowd. Now, he is using these funds in an obvious attempt to garner votes to run for Council Speaker. He is number one of all the candidates in making contributions to other Council members and political clubhouses. Most of his rivals don't see the need to spread around the green. Perhaps they can make a better case with their past legislative records and accomplishments than Councilmember Weprin
Larry Penner, Great Neck, New York
I GOT A RASH
If you guys truly think there are "Not many problems in NYC" (Azi Paybarah's piece) then you have got to put down the airplane glue, because this city has more problems than any of us can count! Actually, what ISN'T a problem in NYC? Yesterday, my parked bike was mangled by some truck I never saw! I'm out $70 and the crook went free. And the day before, my $15 U-Lock jammed and the store refused to replace it because I bought it several weeks ago! Then, the NYPD refused to help. And now I get to go to small claims court and pay the $17 fee to fight for my $15 back! Thanks Rudy and Mike for making NYC awesome!
Liam Kirchberger, via email
MOMENT OF ZEN
J.E. D'Ulisse wrote that "No matter what distance we put between us and ouer prey, we are the same as what we eat." This is so true. When it comes to the ability to feel fear and pain, a human is equal to a cow that is equal to a hamster that is equal to a cat.
Victoria Booth, Brooklyn, NY
NOT JUST WACKOS...
While I would agree with your perception of the presenters there, including your positive assessment of Kunstler, I think you missed a vital point. That is, it isn't just the wackos and survivalists who are wringing their hands about peak oil, but rather the oil companies themselves. Chevron has a site dedicated to the topic called www.willyoujoinus.com and they have been taking out two-page spreads promoting the site in Time and US News. British Petroleum has taken the same approach. The oil co's used to scoff at peak oil suggestions. Now, they are spending millions to tell people not to use their product so much. What other companies do this to your recollection?
Kevin Keating, Esq., Los Angeles, CA
Grant Causwell seems to think that his article on the recent Petrocollapse conference in NYC is a work of balance. While mocking the speakers and organizers of the conference with words like "hawking," "peddling," "lurid fantasies," "paranoia" and "charlatan," he acknowledges that the underlying facts of the Petrocollapse scenario are "valid and undisputed." That's balance, right? For example, most everything about Mike Ruppert in this article is untrue. Yes, Dick Gregory once said something nice about him, and he did appear in People Magazine, but this is not "prominently touted" on www.fromthewilderness.com whose readers (including over 20 Members of Congress) don't have time for fluff. Mr. Ruppert's book Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil is the second-best-selling book on 9/11 - second only to the Kean Report. It is also a legally viable case against Cheney - whose organization has yet to sue, because the case is solid. As for CIA drug dealing, I assume you don't have the time to read Gary Webb's thoroughly validated book Dark Alliance, so I refer you to the "Memorandum of Understanding between Director of CIA William Casey and Attorney General French Smith, inserted into the Congressional Record by Congresswoman Maxine Waters. The NYC conference was about Petrocollapse, not 9-11, but my apparent digression is Mr. Causwell's.
Despite an evidently crippling obsession with the getting and keeping of prestige, Causwell seems to have noticed how this planet's natural carrying capacity for our species is about 2.5 billion, whereas a century of cheap oil and gas finds us at almost 7 billion today. But a genuine concern about the rapid depletion of fossil fuels is unthinkable for this kind of writer, because, well, "doomsaying" is for "losers." People who pay attention to the material realities underlying our way of life are simply too weak or foolish to stick their heads in the apple-bobbing barrel and compete for the socially correct rewards. Hence the comparisons to "UFO cultists, believers in astral projection, Communists and magnetism enthusiasts." That kind of journalistic hysteria has nothing to do with assessing the present danger to our economy. It has much more to do with the writer's repressed awareness that he is playing an ephemeral game, for the wrong reasons, while the story of the century opens its jaws beneath him.
Jamey Hecht, PhD, Senior Staff Writer, From The Wilderness Publications